Effect of polarization Coulomb field scattering on low temperature electron mobility in strained AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors

Abstract

The electron mobility of the AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) with the ratio of the gate length to the drain-to-source distance being less than 1/2 has been studied in the temperature range 100 [Formula: see text] 300 K. The measured electron mobility at each testing temperature is obtained by using the capacitance–voltage (C–V) and current–voltage (I–V) characteristics measured at the corresponding temperature, and the theoretically calculated temperature-dependent electron mobility is determined by Matthiessen’s law, which includes five kinds of important scattering mechanisms. For the prepared sample, the measured electron mobility with respect to the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density was observed to increase to a peak point first and then decrease at each testing temperature. By comparing the measured electron mobility with the theoretically calculated value, the changing trend of the electron mobility at each testing temperature was found to be mainly determined by polarization Coulomb field (PCF) scattering. Particularly at lower temperature, PCF scattering plays a more significant role in the changing trend of the electron mobility.